


eyes wide shut

by avennvares



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Comfort, Nightmares, No Romance, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:28:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26484943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avennvares/pseuds/avennvares
Summary: For the past five years, Kurapika’s sleep has been plagued by nightmares.—Originally written as a character study.
Kudos: 15





	eyes wide shut

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this as a Kurapika character study, but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would, so I decided to post it here. 
> 
> Kurapika has quickly became one of my favorite characters of all time, and I love getting inside his head.

For the past five years, Kurapika’s sleep has been plagued by nightmares. Behind his closed eyes, he sees them—the desecrated corpses of what was once his people. Sometimes, he dreams a memory, the moment he had returned home and saw the bodies strewn throughout the streets, the blood that made a pathway. A pile of corpses waiting for him to arrive, and a bloody note left behind on one of the bodies: “We reject no one, so take nothing from us.” When he wakes from these dreams, it’s always with a gasp. It usually takes him a moment to gather his surroundings, to remember where he was and who he was now, the words from the note silent whispers from his lips.

And other nights, nights like tonight, he dreams that his fallen brethren have been reanimated; grasping at the fabric of Kurapika’s pants, bones cracking as their fingers close and their arms pull. They climb up his body, spiders crawling out of wide, gaping mouths and eyeless sockets. One hundred twenty-eight voices echo in his ears—telling him to come back home, to join them as they rot in the graves Kurapika had dug for them. They are right; he knows that’s where he belongs. In his dream, he cries, and tells them he’s sorry; if he could rewrite the past, he would have been there with them, would have added to the body count. But his cousins don’t listen, and Kurapika tries to get away, tries to push them off of him, and when he looks up there is Pairo inches from his face. 

He reaches forward, his cold fingers touching Kurapika’s face, and he watches in horror as a spider runs out of the decaying flesh of Pairo’s arm and makes its way to his cheek. It is Pairo’s fingers that gouge themselves into Kurapika’s eyes, and they scream in tandem.

The scream is what wakes Kurapika up, his body lurching forward on the bed. His hand clutches his chest as he gasps, breaths shallow and panicked. It’s not an unusual way for him to wake up, but it is unusual for him to see a shadow looking at him from a corner of a dark room. For a moment, he tenses, considering conjuring his chains in case he needs to protect himself, but then the shadow speaks, and Kurapika remembers.

“Do you need some water?” Leorio asks, and Kurapika relaxes. His voice is laced with worry, but manages to stay low and calm, a trait Leorio rarely possesses. Still, Kurapika can feel his eyes searching, can feel him wanting to say more, to pry. 

“What time is it?” Kurapika’s voice cracks as he talks, his throat dry. Perhaps water would help, after all. He swallows roughly and runs his fingers through his hair. It’s damp with sweat, matted down and sticking to the back of his neck.

“Four in the morning.” The chair Leorio was sitting in squeaks as he gets up and moves across the room to Kurapika’s side, holding a glass of water by the rim and dangling it in front of Kurapika’s face. “Seemed like a pretty bad dream.” Kurapika doesn’t take the water right away, so Leorio shakes it, water sloshing out and landing in Kurapika’s blanketed lap.

With a huff, Kurapika snatches the glass from Leorio’s grip. More water splashes down onto Kurapika and he shoots Leorio a look as he brings what’s left of the water to his mouth. Leorio’s toothy grin fills his entire face, and a small one plays in the corners of Kurapika’s lips. “I’m fine,” he says shortly, and downs the cool water in two quick gulps. 

“Okay,” Leorio says, “you’re fine.” He sits on the edge of the bed, folding one long leg beneath him while the other pumps up and down, shaking the bed with his movements. Kurapika eases himself back down, head against his pillow once more, and listens to the creaks of the floorboards and Leorio’s breathing. “But I’m gonna stay over here until you calm down.”


End file.
